Document Type

Honors Paper

Advisor

Jeff Moher

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

The bilingual advantage hypothesis, which proposes an enhancement of executive functions in bilinguals, remains heavily debated with inconsistent findings across studies. This study investigated working memory performance in bilingual and monolingual young adults using a modified n-back task with an interruption while recording EEG activity. Participants completed 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back conditions across the pre-interruption phase and a post-break 2-back condition. Behavioral measures (accuracy and response times) were analyzed alongside ERP, focusing on P300 and sustained activity components, were analyzed. Results showed a decrease in accuracy as task difficulty increased from 1-back to 3-back, indicating the expected effects of higher working memory load. Response times were longer as task difficulty increased, but exhibited shorter response times following an interruption. Similarly, differences in RT between bilinguals and monolinguals showed an observable trend of shorter RTs in bilinguals than in monolinguals across all conditions, except for the N1 condition. Sustained activity showed the strongest negative deflection in the 3-back condition, consistent with increased working memory demands. Notably, bilingual and monolingual participants displayed different neural patterns despite similar behavioral performance, particularly after the break. These findings suggest that language experience may influence neural processing during working memory maintenance, particularly following task interruptions.

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The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.